Barack Obama's administration has been accused of pressuring a top US Air
Force general into changing his congressional testimony to make it more
favourable to the company of a major Democratic donor.

According to Republicans on Capitol Hill, General William Shelton, head of Air Force Space Command, told them in a closed session the White House urged him to alter his testimony about the Pentagon's concerns about a new wireless project by a satellite broadband company.

The furore over the issue comes as an increasing number of Democrats, many of whom are concerned about their own re-election prospects, begin to back away from their president.

LightSquared, based in Virginia, is funded by the multi-millionaire Philip Falcone, a frequent donor to Democrats. The satellite and broadband communications company plans to build a nationwide, 4G phone network that many generals believe would seriously hinder the effectiveness of high-precision GPS receiver systems used by the military.

According to officials who spoke to the "Daily Beast" website, Gen Shelton's prepared testimony was leaked in advance to LightSquared. The White House then asked the general to alter it to say that he supported the White House policy to add more broadband for commercial use and that the Pentagon would try to resolve its concerns in tests within 90 days.

"There was an attempt to influence the text of the testimony and to engage LightSquared in the process in order to bias his testimony," Representative Mike Turner, a Republican, told the Daily Beast. "The only people who were involved in the process in preparation for the hearing included the Department of Defence, the White House, and the Office Management and Budget."

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The row over the allegedly improper intervention came as a Republican-controlled House of Representatives Committee investigated a federal loan guarantee to Solyndra, a solar firm also tied to a major Democratic contributor, which failed after receiving a half-billion US government loan guarantee.

A spokesman for Gen Shelton said that his testimony was "his own, supported by and focused purely on documented tested results".

LightSquared insisted it had not sought to interfere with the properly regulatory process. The White House said reviewing congressional testimony was routine.

But Mr Obama is vulnerable on the issue, not least because of his lofty promises about transparency and cleaning up Washington on the campaign trail and when he first arrived at the White House.

According to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, the president is losing support among elements of his own base as well as failing to attract independent voters. The results show that despite his effort to seize the initiative on the economy, nearly three-quarters of Americans think the country is on the wrong track.

An increasing number of senior Democrats are breaking ranks to be openly critical of the White House.

James Carville, the veteran Democratic consultant who managed Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential election campaign, said his advice to Mr Obama after the party's loss of a previously safe congressional seat in New York be summed up in one word: panic.

He added that Mr Obama should "fire" someone. "No – fire a lot of people. This may be news to you but this is not going well. For precedent, see Russian Army 64th division at Stalingrad.

"Mr President, your hinge of fate must turn. Bill Clinton fired many people in 1994 and took a lot of heat for it. Reagan fired most of his campaign staff in 1980. Republicans historically fired their own speaker, Newt Gingrich.

"Bush fired Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. For God's sake, why are we still looking at the same political and economic advisers that got us into this mess? It's not working."

Democrats on Capitol Hill, many of whom are concerned Mr Obama's unpopularity will "drag" on them, are more reluctant to support the White House.

Sen Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, said that Mr Obama's new American Jobs Act, announced last week to help tackle an unemployment rate stuck at 9.1 per cent, was misconceived.

"I'm afraid if we tried to pass one big bill, I think there's a lot of scepticism about big pieces of legislation with all kinds of different component parts. We should break this up," he told KDKA. Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, also from Mr Obama's party, said any final bill was "not going to be what the president wants".